Watchdog: Reveal lobbyist meetings

The government watchdog group Common Cause called on the White House Thursday to disclose all of its meetings with lobbyists – a policy shift the White House does not appear ready to make.

The push for more disclosure comes after a POLITICO report that President Barack Obama’s aides often steer lobbyists to a complex just off the White House grounds — a move several lobbyists said they believe was done specifically to keep the meetings out of White House visitor logs released to the public.

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“You can’t have a policy for the front door of the White House and then sneak people in through a back door,” Common Cause president Bob Edgar said in a statement. “We call on the administration to disclose all meetings with lobbyists, not just with those who come in the main entrance.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney suggested during his daily briefing with reporters that the White House won’t be changing its policy anytime soon.

“I’m not aware what policies might be instituted in the future,” Carney said. “We never said that there was a way to get every name in every meeting. The principle is disclosure and we have gone to extraordinary lengths to make that happen.”

Asked whether White House officials are given guidance on when it’s appropriate to meet lobbyists outside the White House, Carney said, “I think this question stems from a story that, frankly, was absurd.”

Indeed, Obama is the first president to release the White House visitors logs, which reveal the comings and goings around the West Wing and the Old Executive Office Building.

Carney contrasted the Obama administration’s policy with President George W. Bush’s White House, which successfully went to court to prevent the release of the identities of people who met with Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force.

Obama administration officials use the Jackson Place conference rooms across from Lafayette Square when they are out of space at the White House, Carney said.

“The suggestion that we’re not being transparent is laughable given the unbelievable precedent this administration has set,” he said. “The guiding principle here is transparency. Nobody is, that I’m aware of, is hiding where they’re meeting.”